HFMA VIEWS

Tony Chen
Director, Product Innovation, HFMA

Recently, I read Jim Collins' newly published monograph Good to Great for the Social Sectors. After reading through his examples of how an orchestra, a high school science department, and the girl scouts went from good to great, I couldn't help but think: how many great hospitals are there? And what are the two or three things right now that are stopping a lot of good hospitals from becoming great?

I would venture to guess that most people would say "it depends."  It depends on the particular issues facing your particular hospital within your particular working environment. Alternatively, we could also say that by and large, aren't our hands tied anyway?  Don't we work in an industry where systemic problems, industry-wide inefficiencies, and policy matters are at the root of the biggest healthcare problems?